Autumn hues have arrived!

Luxurious satin and silk fabrics are decorated with feminine ruffles and bows. Voluminous silhouettes or lace over-lays keep a hint of that romantic look on the scene. 1950’s nostalgia is back with the ‘flirt skirt’, a classic with a high necked sweater. Graphic prints have arrived to add some bold variety to your wardrobe.

Get ready for a night out

Sophisticated evening wear is glittering and gorgeous! Strong silhouettes with demure cuts add a new elegance to the scene.  Magical metalics in silver, pewter, bronze, copper and gold provide a perfect palette to shine for a stunning evening look.

Cooler weather calls for layering and there is plenty available this season. Vests and  structured military jackets in leather or suede are dramatically decorated with zippers and buttons. Plush velvet or brocade fitted jackets look stunning with a sleek pair of pencil pants or leggings.  Add a fashion scarf to a cape or faux fur vest to compliment your outdoor look.

High velocity shoes make the scene in bright colors or prints. Flats, pumps or skyscraper heels make a dramatic statement with large buckles, bows, gemstones and fur.  High-rise or ankle boots work worn with skirts or leggings will take you into the winter months ahead.

Chunky gemstone jewelry is everywhere! Try pairing a cuffed bracelet or a glittering pin on your fitted jacket. Take your favorite blouse and give it a fresh seasonal look by replacing the buttons with assorted ornamental jeweled buttons.  Structured handbags in vivid colors or animal prints add punch to any classic outfit.

Have fun shopping while you choose the trends this season that work best for your personality and budget!

One tip wonder:  Add a new fashion scarf to update any neckline!  A fringed, ruffled, sequined or faux fur scarf is sure to change up any neckline and take you into this season’s fabulous fall look.

Sleek and chic, classy pieces with new daring combinations

A flashback to the 50s brings us sophisticated Hollywood elegance. Perfectly finished from head to toe, this look is about polished distinction. Look for dresses that go past the knee, skirt suits and three quarter sleeve coats. Bold accessorizes help achieve this elegant look.

Spring meets fall for the first time with dresses showing up in a mosaic of floral prints. The 60′s look returns with bold graphic prints. Hems are dropping… and dropping fast! Mid calf and floor length hemlines are a big departure from the ultra-minis seen last season. Side slits have made a come back in the winter dress. Add the sleeveless drop-waisted shift to your wardrobe this season.

90’s minimalism has made its way onto the runways. Tailoring builds the contours for this season’s fashion fair. Precision cut draping and structure defines jackets and trousers. Simplicity reigns with the return of the pencil skirts topped with a loose fitting blouse.

What’s hot when it comes to color and fabric?

Color abounds! Creamy coffee, camel, bright crimson, citrus and burnt orange along with the rich emerald jewel shades of jade and azure make their statement in the stores this season. These rich hues are found in coats, bags, belts, shoes and dresses.

Textures are mixed to add style and flare. Leather, faux fur, vinyls, feathers and brocades give a strong look. Velvet is everywhere in the fall collections. This luxurious and romantic fabric can elevate any look, taking your outfit easily from daytime to eveningwear.

Plaids in a tartan to a rustic weave are making their return. Check out the pleated schoolgirl skirt paired with a turtleneck. Stripes, checks, even polka dots are also a carry over from the 70’s.

Glamour abounds this holiday season. Sequins make a statement in a variety of colors and shapes. Oversize post it note sequins are iridescent fun and futuristic.

Trousers

Flare and wide leg bottoms with a high waist give an elegant look when worn with a loose satin blouse. Cropped or slim fit pants will still find room in your wardrobe this winter.

Accessorize

Layered necklaces add style to a simple neckline. Motif pins give flare to a classic outfit. Choker necklaces and cuff bracelets in gold, copper or silver add prominence and style to a dress in the back of your closet. Hollywood 50′s elegance dictates pearls, gloves and fur wraps.

Shoes are bold with choices from patent, suede and reptile skins such as python and croc. Colors are fun with the addition of fringes, bows or straps. Heels are tall with either a spike or a wedge.

The bag collections include a range from a patent clutch to reptile skins with chain handles. Have fun bringing life to a simple black dress with a crimson reptile bag and matching suede shoes!

Textured stockings are an easy way to add interest to a simple outfit.

This Season’s One Tip Wonder

Add a camel coat in a sleek classic silhouette to your outerwear this season. Camel is a chic and eye catching shade. Consider some faux fur trim to add warmth and interest. Every woman can wear this classic addition with great confidence!

I did just that. I climbed the ladder and achieved a level of success envied by many. But somehow, it wasn’t enough.

I was raised in a loving family in a large city in Alberta, Canada. I had good parents who loved me and taught me right from wrong, frequently taking me to church when I was young. Intellectually, I believed there was a God-a distant and unavailable being higher than myself-but I didn’t feel that I was important to Him. During my teen years, I searched for answers. I read the Bible all the way through. I tried praying things over and over, but felt like my prayers didn’t go farther than the ceiling. He still didn’t seem real.

When I was sixteen, I met Steve. I enjoyed math and excelled in it, but it wasn’t one of his favorite subjects. One day our teacher asked me to help him out, and it was soon clear that Steve was more interested in the tutor than the tutoring.

We dated for about a year and then went our separate ways. During this time, I made some poor choices and strayed from the values I had been raised with.

As I entered university, I put my search for God on the shelf. I thought that I could find fulfillment and purpose in life through hard work and a profession. I studied hard and I was a very disciplined student, very driven and goal oriented. My educational degree was obtained in three and a half years.

I graduated with distinction and received letters to continue into graduate school. In my first interview with a school district I was promised a job immediately because I held a flawless evaluation in my resume. I had obtained all kinds of success, but still had an emptiness inside of me that success couldn’t touch.

It was during my years at university that I met up with Steve again. He, too, had wandered from the values he had been taught at home and had already been through a marriage that ended in divorce. He was just beginning his career with the family mining business. He was searching for answers, too.

Together we decided to get to know God better, so we joined a Bible study with some Christian people. It was there that I discovered what I had been missing-it was a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that made the difference.

God was real, and I was important to Him. He loved me even when I tried to live my life my own way, without Him. Through His son, Jesus, I could know Him and find the fulfilment I had been looking for.

I prayed a simple prayer, something like this:

Lord Jesus, I want to know you personally. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life to you and ask you to come in as my Saviour and Lord. Take control of my life. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Make me the kind of woman you want me to be.

I knew that this was the answer for me, yet I was scared because a relationship with Jesus Christ involved committing my whole life to Him and asking Him to take control. I was afraid that God would want to send me to Africa as a missionary. I must tell you that I have been to Africa twice now to share my faith and would gladly go there to live if God directed me there. So the biggest decision of my life took place as I invited Christ into my life to lead me where He wanted me to go.

Steve and I were married in January of 1980. It was -40 degrees outside as we packed up and moved to Northern Alberta. I was a new wife and beginning a new life with Jesus.

I enjoyed a short term teaching job with some handicapped children and then moved to an upper primary group until our daughter was born. We moved to a different province in our country and I worked part-time for two years before taking on a full-time class of 13 year old kids. This was a challenge, and I enjoyed challenges. However these challenges took up a lot of my time. My family and my time with God suffered. I had once again put God on the shelf. My priorities had shifted and this was causing a lot of frustration in my life. I discovered that I was still trying, and failing, to find fulfillment in my career.

After discovering that I was pregnant again with our second child, I made arrangements to job share after the baby was born. However my priorities had an immediate shuffle and my teaching career halted once my son was born. Scott had very twisted and deformed feet. At the time, we were living in a very small town in Northern Canada and we were seven and a half hours away from the orthopaedic surgeon. We had weekly then biweekly trips out to change the casts (supports) on his legs. Then it changed to monthly trips for surgeries and braces.

My fulfillment could no longer be met by my career. I turned back to giving Jesus Christ my life with all these new challenges. During those years I was comforted by something that Jesus said: “My peace I give you, My peace I leave with you, I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid.”

The word peace in the Bible does not just mean quietness or absence of war. Peace in the Bible is about completeness, wholeness, harmony and purpose. It means getting things back to where they were intended to be. This is what God promises to give everyone who calls on His name. He is here for all who want Him. He loves us all and wants to share His nature and His plans with us.

When my desires to return full-time to the school system became greater again, I turned to God for direction. He met that desire in a very unique way. Today I coordinate prayer groups for the schools of our city. These groups, called Mothers Who Care, meet weekly to pray for students, teachers, and administrators. I also do a lot of volunteer work in our school and have participated on many different committees.

I know that in trusting God with my life I can have a peace and purpose in my life, whether He directs me to be in the workforce or to be a stay-at-home mother. For me it is very reassuring to know that God is in my life. He has promised me a place in heaven, and He is a God that will never fail me.

“There is only one relationship that matters, and that is your personal relationship to a personal redeemer and Lord. Let everything else go, but maintain that at all costs, and God will fulfill His purpose through your life.” -Oswald Chambers

What about you? Are you struggling to find answers in your own life? Is success a hollow triumph? It doesn’t have to be that way. You can have peace and fulfillment through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Why not pray this simple prayer and by faith invite God to fill you with His Spirit:

Dear Father, I need you. I acknowledge that I have sinned against you by directing my own life. I thank you that You have forgiven my sins through Christ’s death on the cross for me. I now invite Christ to again take His place on the throne of my life. Fill me with the Holy Spirit as You commanded me to be filled, and as You promised in Your Word that You would do if I asked in faith. I pray this in the name of Jesus. As an expression of my faith, I thank You for directing my life and for filling me with the Holy Spirit. Amen.

If you prayed this prayer, we would love to hear about it!

What value is it to climb the ladder of life to the top, only to find out that it was leaning against the wrong building?

I did just that. I climbed the ladder and achieved a level of success envied by many. But somehow, it wasn’t enough.

I was raised in a loving family in a large city in Alberta, Canada. I had good parents who loved me and taught me right from wrong, frequently taking me to church when I was young. Intellectually, I believed there was a God-a distant and unavailable being higher than myself-but I didn’t feel that I was important to Him. During my teen years, I searched for answers. I read the Bible all the way through. I tried praying things over and over, but felt like my prayers didn’t go farther than the ceiling. He still didn’t seem real.

When I was sixteen, I met Steve. I enjoyed math and excelled in it, but it wasn’t one of his favorite subjects. One day our teacher asked me to help him out, and it was soon clear that Steve was more interested in the tutor than the tutoring.

We dated for about a year and then went our separate ways. During this time, I made some poor choices and strayed from the values I had been raised with.

As I entered university, I put my search for God on the shelf. I thought that I could find fulfillment and purpose in life through hard work and a profession. I studied hard and I was a very disciplined student, very driven and goal oriented. My educational degree was obtained in three and a half years.

I graduated with distinction and received letters to continue into graduate school. In my first interview with a school district I was promised a job immediately because I held a flawless evaluation in my resume. I had obtained all kinds of success, but still had an emptiness inside of me that success couldn’t touch.

It was during my years at university that I met up with Steve again. He, too, had wandered from the values he had been taught at home and had already been through a marriage that ended in divorce. He was just beginning his career with the family mining business. He was searching for answers, too.

Together we decided to get to know God better, so we joined a Bible study with some Christian people. It was there that I discovered what I had been missing-it was a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that made the difference.

God was real, and I was important to Him. He loved me even when I tried to live my life my own way, without Him. Through His son, Jesus, I could know Him and find the fulfillment I had been looking for. I prayed a simple prayer.

I knew that this was the answer for me, yet I was scared because a relationship with Jesus Christ involved committing my whole life to Him and asking Him to take control. I was afraid that God would want to send me to Africa as a missionary. I must tell you that I have been to Africa twice now to share my faith and would gladly go there to live if God directed me there. So the biggest decision of my life took place as I invited Christ into my life to lead me where He wanted me to go.

Steve and I were married in January of 1980. It was -40 degrees outside as we packed up and moved to Northern Alberta. I was a new wife and beginning a new life with Jesus.

I enjoyed a short term teaching job with some handicapped children and then moved to an upper primary group until our daughter was born. We moved to a different province in our country and I worked part-time for two years before taking on a full-time class of 13 year old kids. This was a challenge, and I enjoyed challenges. However these challenges took up a lot of my time. My family and my time with God suffered. I had once again put God on the shelf. My priorities had shifted and this was causing a lot of frustration in my life. I discovered that I was still trying, and failing, to find fulfillment in my career.

After discovering that I was pregnant again with our second child, I made arrangements to job share after the baby was born. However my priorities had an immediate shuffle and my teaching career halted once my son was born. Scott had very twisted and deformed feet. At the time, we were living in a very small town in Northern Canada and we were seven and a half hours away from the orthopaedic surgeon. We had weekly then biweekly trips out to change the casts (supports) on his legs. Then it changed to monthly trips for surgeries and braces.

My fulfilment could no longer be met by my career. I turned back to giving Jesus Christ my life with all these new challenges. During those years I was comforted by something that Jesus said: “My peace I give you, My peace I leave with you, I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid.”

The word peace in the Bible does not just mean quietness or absence of war. Peace in the Bible is about completeness, wholeness, harmony and purpose. It means getting things back to where they were intended to be. This is what God promises to give everyone who calls on His name. He is here for all who want Him. He loves us all and wants to share His nature and His plans with us.

When my desires to return full-time to the school system became greater again, I turned to God for direction. He met that desire in a very unique way. Today I coordinate prayer groups for the schools of our city. These groups, called Mothers Who Care, meet weekly to pray for students, teachers, and administrators. I also do a lot of volunteer work in our school and have participated on many different committees.

I know that in trusting God with my life I can have a peace and purpose in my life, whether He directs me to be in the workforce or to be a stay-at-home mother. For me it is very reassuring to know that God is in my life. He has promised me a place in heaven, and He is a God that will never fail me.

“There is only one relationship that matters, and that is your personal relationship to a personal redeemer and Lord. Let everything else go, but maintain that at all costs, and God will fulfill His purpose through your life.” -Oswald Chambers

Take a look at your life.  How would you describe it? Contented? Rushed? Exciting? Stressful? Moving forward? Holding back? For many of us it’s all of the above at times.  There are things we dream of doing one day, there are things we wish we could forget.  In the Bible, it says that Jesus came to make all things new.  What would your life look like if you could start over with a clean slate?

Living with hope

If you are looking for peace, there is a way to balance your life. No one can be perfect, or have a perfect life. But every one of us has the opportunity to experience perfect grace through a personal relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ.

You can receive Christ right now by faith through prayer. Praying is simply talking to God. God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. Here’s a suggested prayer:

Lord Jesus, I want to know you personally. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life to you and ask you to come in as my Savior and Lord. Take control of my life. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Make me the kind of person you want me to be.

Does this prayer express the desire of your heart? You can pray it right now, and Jesus Christ will come into your life, just as He promised.

Is this the life for you?

If you invited Christ into your life, thank God often that He is in your life, that He will never leave you and that you have eternal life. As you learn more about your relationship with God, and how much He loves you, you’ll experience life to the fullest.

As winter melts away, fashion for spring and summer 2012 blooms with color!

The 50’s and 60’s influence brings back polished, feminine styles with full, pleated, and tiered skirts and shifts. Embellishments go 3D with petals, blooms, sequins and embroidery adding elegance to any outfit. Lace and openwork cutout fabrics add sophistication. Watch for crochet, mesh and organza fabrics to show up in your favorite stores.

Take a chance on prints

The print craze is exploding on the runway. Bright and bold colors with digital variations are loud and clear choices for your spring wardrobe. Floral prints, along with watercolors, graphics, paisleys, photo prints, stripes and more are ready to go wherever you want to take them.

Don’t be afraid of a bold pattern. These are statement pieces to have some fun with! Pair some print pants with a colorful tank or sweater for a versatile choice to take you into spring.

This season the athletic look is more of a sporty couture then the traditional gym wear. Mesh, drawstrings, racer backs, extra large zippers and sporty anoraks are making their impact on mainstream fashion. Consider trading your evening cardigan for a voluminous anorak.

Add some sugar to your look

Colors inspired by candy stores and ice cream parlors will give you a fashion high this season. Choose from luscious limoncello, pistachio, raspberry, bubblegum and melon. Go icy and pale or bright and juicy. If the soda shop colors are too pale for you then look for the candy store brights.

Cyber age shimmering color brings mineral rich metallics like copper, platinum, and ocean inspired greens and blues into the spring palette. The look is enhanced with futuristic tailoring featuring voluminous silhouettes and radiant embellishments.

Ease into color

If all this color feels a bit overwhelming then look to the tribal influence. Consider batiks, tie dyes, animal prints and don’t forget the leather.  If you’re looking for something new for spring, consider the leather sleeveless top, sheath or jacket for an updated seasonal look.

For accessories, rhinestone and silver jewelry, gloves and pointed toe pumps are on our shopping list this season.  Consider adding them to yours too.

One Tip Wonder: We can’t resist the little pastel dress. Nothing says spring like a gelato colored dress with pointy pumps and some silver accessories.

There is much to choose from this spring so have fun finding a delicious style that’s all your own.

Take the next step:

Confidence is always in style
How to make peace with the mirror

Juicy bright with whites says it all.

Dress it up!

Romantic lace dresses and skirts grace the runway with nostalgic elegance. The 60’s influence brings us the hourglass dress.  A Jackie Kennedy inspired sheath dress is lovely falling just below the knee. Full skirts bring us back into ultra-feminine elegance.

The maxi dress is great for either daytime or evening wear and flatters almost any figure. Choose one in a soft flowing fabric for comfort. The little white dress makes a statement and moves the little black dress to the back of the closet.

70s inspired

This season also takes us back to the 70′s but with a sophisticated twist. The best of the disco era includes shimmering fabrics, fringes and flares. Groovy high-waisted, wide leg pants are paired with an elegant lux top. Stripes are back. Chose thick or thin in this spring’s technicolors. Lacy peasant blouses and homespun knits are all ready to go for spring.

The right pair of shoes will always finish your look. Elegant kitten heels, strappy stilettos, towering wedges with cork heels, gladiators or clogs – your look can be changed by unique footwear. Details such as rosettes, snakeskin, metallics and bows showcase what’s on the runway.

Spring and summer handbags are bright and beautiful. Choose a practical shoulder bag or a clutch purse in a sizzling hot color. Pair a feminine dress with a rich jeweled pendant necklace.

Finish your look with a sleeveless jacket or trench coat. Varying fabrics and colors can provide either a sporty, feminine or classic look.

One Tip Wonder: Put some vivid color in your wardrobe this season. Have fun shopping for a new dress that flatters your figure and add a clutch bag for a splash of color. Enjoy looking great this season!